Comment: The following leader article appeared in the Guardian of London on 23 April 2005.

Forgotten holocaust

"...between 1915 and 1923 the Ottoman Turkish authorities orchestrated the killing of 1.5 million Armenian Christians... Henry Morgenthau, then US ambassador to Istanbul, reported "cold-blooded, calculating" slaughter... Turks should no more be allowed to deny their responsibility than Germans for exterminating Europe's Jews. (Hitler, whose crimes areremembered, once scornfully asked who remembered the Armenians)."

It is not every day that there is a chance to ponder the significance
of events that happened in the distant past, so tomorrow's 90th
anniversary of the start of what Armenians call their genocide at the
hands of the Turks should not pass unnoticed. This subject cannot be
tackled without negotiating a minefield of claim, counter-claim and
fury. Many historians believe that between 1915 and 1923 the Ottoman
Turkish authorities orchestrated the killing of 1.5 million Armenian
Christians. Turkish governments have always insisted that a few hundred
thousand died in "spontaneous" violence that constituted neither
extermination nor genocide, and that in any case began in wartime, when
the Armenians, seen as a fifth column, were fighting alongside Russian
forces.

Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most famous writer, was
vilified recently for referring to a million deaths, many of starvation
on a long march into exile in the Syrian desert. When France, home to
the largest Armenian diaspora community, planned to commemorate the
killings, it received threats from Turkey. Henry Morgenthau, then US
ambassador to Istanbul, reported "cold-blooded, calculating" slaughter.
But American governments speak only of "tragedy" to avoid offending
their ally. Armenians, marking the catastrophe in Yerevan and beyond,
call it the forgotten holocaust and say Turks should no more be allowed
to deny their responsibility than Germans for exterminating Europe's
Jews. (Hitler, whose crimes areremembered, once scornfully asked who
remembered the Armenians).

With emotions still running so high, it is encouraging that Turkey has
asked Armenia to join a commission with unfettered access to the
records of both countries, including Turkey's first world war military
archives. Armenia rejects this, saying the historical facts are clear.
Ankara fears the issue is being exploited by those, especially in
France, who oppose Turkish membership of the EU. To some extent, the
response is defensive. But whatever their motives, it will be welcome
if Turks are now ready to look at their past with a more open mind."